The phrase has such a great ring to it – for journalists, that is. It’s hot, punchy (with that double-p alliteration) and short enough for headlines. All in all, a great tag for summing up one of the most sensational news stories of the year.

The only problem is – it’s a lie.

It turns out the vast majority of the Catholic priests’ offenses do not involve “pedophilia” – sexual contact between an adult and a pre-pubescent youth. Rather, they amount to sexual seductions of teen-age boys by predatory homosexual men who have abused their position of authority and trust.

“The real problem the Catholic Church faces,” explains Father Donald B. Cozzens, author of “The Changing Face of the Priesthood,” is the “disproportionate number of gay men that populate our seminaries.”

“I think we have to ask the question: Why are 90 to 95 – and some estimates say as high as 98 – percent of the victims of clergy acting out against teen-agers, boys? Why isn’t there … a higher percentage of teen-age girls?” Cozzens declared on NBC’s Meet the Press recently.

Stephen Rubino, a lawyer who has represented over 300 alleged victims of priest abuse, estimates 85 percent of the victims have been teen-age boys. And Catholic psychiatrist Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, who has treated many victims and offending priests, agrees with that figure, noting that 90 percent of his patients are either abused teen-age males or their priest abusers.

“This is chiefly a scandal about unchaste or criminal homosexuals in the Catholic priesthood,” sums up National Review senior writer Rod Dreher. “For Catholics, to start asking questions about homosexuality in the priesthood is to risk finding out more than many Church members prefer to know. For journalists, to confront the issue is to risk touching the electrified third rail of American popular culture: the dark side of homosexuality.”

Of course, the American press has been white-hot in exposing the Catholic hierarchy’s inexcusable toleration of known sex offenders, transferring them to other posts and generally looking the other way, rather than reporting their crimes to the police, ejecting them out of the clergy and into jail.

Yet something stinks in all this.

You see, there’s another major, ongoing news story involving homosexuality – namely, the controversy over the “discriminatory” policies of the Boy Scouts of America.

And what did the Boy Scouts of America do to deserve this vilification?

Before we answer this question, take a moment to ponder this nearly 100-year-old organization. By one comprehensive tally, 63 percent of U.S. Air Force Academy graduates have been Scouts, 68 percent of West Point graduates, 70 percent of Annapolis graduates, and 85 percent of FBI agents, not to mention 26 of the first 29 astronauts – all Scouts.

Currently 5 million boys and 1.2 million adults are involved in Scouting. That’s today. Now add in the tens of millions of former Scouts who count their scouting years as having played an essential, positive role in shaping their lives, and you’ve got an outfit that deserves the undying gratitude and support of Americans.

So, why the relentless assault on the Boy Scouts, with major cheerleading in the news media?

Well you see, unlike the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts’ organization doesn’t knowingly allow homosexual men to hold official positions of trust and authority over young males.

Historically, the BSA has had a serious problem with sexual offenses by male leaders against Scouts – so serious that prevention has become a major preoccupation, with constant leader screening and training, the “two-deep leadership” requirement and programs for Scouts to identify warning signs of inappropriate advances by adults.

The Scouting folks know what everyone with half a brain understands: that adults interested in sexual contact with young people gravitate toward careers and volunteer positions allowing proximity to their prey, positions such as coaches, teachers, scoutmasters – and priests.

The Scouting organization simply refuses to allow what the Catholic Church has allowed – to let known homosexuals occupy positions of authority and trust, positions too easily and too often used to prey on vulnerable young people.

So, the big question: Why does the “mainstream press” condemn the Catholic Church for allowing predatory homosexuals to destroy the lives of boys, while simultaneously condemning the Boy Scouts of America for not allowing precisely the same thing in their organization?

What? You don’t see the media condemning the Boy Scouts?

The press provides widespread and sympathetic journalistic voice to absurd and unconstitutional (remember, the Supreme Court already ruled in favor of the Scouts) arguments and campaigns of those reviling the Scouts, cutting off their funding, and casting them as a hateful, prejudice-based organization.

For the same reasons, many in the media secretly enjoy seeing the Catholic Church – and the Christian church in general, because of its traditional condemnation of homosexuality – under attack. The fact that the Catholic hierarchy has allowed homosexual priests to prey on teen-age boys serves as a useful sledgehammer for discrediting the entire Christian church – as well as the religion it so imperfectly represents.

The only problem for pro-homosexual journalists in all of this is: How do you get around the fact that it’s smooth-talking predatory homosexuals that are the cause of the problems with the Catholic Church and with the Boy Scouts of America? Doesn’t that spoil the “gays-are-just-normal-folks-who-want-equal-rights” argument?

No problem. Just call the bad priests “pedophiles.” And pretend there is no connection between the issue of homosexual Scout leaders and sexual attacks on Scouts. And bingo, the homosexual issue drops off the public’s radar.

By the way, I don’t blame homosexual activists in any of this. They have a right to lobby, to persuade, to picket – they even have a right to twist facts, intimidate people and lie, as they typically do, as long as they aren’t breaking the law.

I blame the news media. Unlike activists and lobbyists, the press is “sworn to tell the truth,” so to speak. It’s a sacred trust between them and the public who rely on them for accurate information. But they violate that trust as easily as breathing.

Editor’s note: To commemorate this month’s 5th anniversary of WorldNetDaily.com, the May edition of WND’s acclaimed Whistleblower magazine – titled “The News Mafia” – focuses entirely on the media. Then comes the explosive June issue, “Shattering the Myths of the Middle East.”